Section
3
Objectives
•
Summarize the factors that encouraged the
Protestant Reformation.
•
Analyze Martin Luther’s role in shaping the
Protestant Reformation.
•
Explain the teachings and impact of John Calvin.
The Protestant Reformation
Section
3
Terms and People
•
indulgences – in the Roman Catholic Church,
pardons for sins committed during a person’s life
•
Martin Luther –the German monk who
triggered the revolt against the Roman Catholic
church in 1517
•
Wittenberg – city in northern Germany where
Luther drew up his 95 Theses
•
Charles V – the Holy Roman emperor who
ordered Luther to recant his 95 Theses
The Protestant Reformation
Section
3
Terms and People
(continued)
•
diet – assembly or legislature
•
John Calvin – a reformer who preached
predestination and the living of a saintly life
•
predestination – the idea that God had
predetermined who would gain salvation
•
Geneva – the Swiss city where, in 1541, John
Calvin was asked to establish a Christian community
•
theocracy – a government run by religious leaders
The Protestant Reformation
Section
3
How did revolts against the Roman
Catholic Church affect northern European
society?
In the 1500s, the Renaissance in northern Europe
sparked a religious upheaval. Northern European
calls for church reform eventually unleashed forces
that would shatter Christian unity.
This movement is known as the Protestant
Reformation.
The Protestant Reformation
Section
3
The early 1500s were uncertain times
in northern Europe.
Disparities in wealth, a new market economy,
and religious discontent all bred uncertainty.
The printing
press spread
knowledge
quickly.
Humanist
ideas for
social
reform
grew in
popularity.
The Protestant Reformation
Increasingly,
people
questioned
the central
force in their
lives—the
Church.
Section
3
Increasingly, the church had become involved
in worldly politics.
•
Popes competed with Italian princes for political
power.
•
They plotted against powerful monarchs who
sought to control papal lands.
•
They lived lavish lifestyles and hired artists to
beautify churches.
The Protestant Reformation
Section
3
To finance their lifestyles, church officials charged
fees for services such as baptisms and marriages.
Some clergy also
sold indulgences.
Only the rich could
afford to buy them.
•
An indulgence lessened the
time one spent in purgatory
before going to heaven.
•
In the Middle Ages, they
were often granted for
doing good deeds.
•
Many Christians, including
Erasmus, objected to
their sale.
The Protestant Reformation
Section
3
Christian humanists called for a less worldly
church, one based more on Bible study.
As early as the 1300s, John Wycliff had begun
protests against the Church in England.
Jan Hus led a similar protest, for which he was
executed, in what is today the Czech Republic.
The Protestant Reformation
Section
3
The German
monk and
professor,
Martin Luther,
sparked a
revolt in
1517.
•
Angered by the sale of
indulgences in Wittenberg,
Germany, Luther drew up
his 95 Theses.
•
He argued that indulgences
had no place in the Bible,
and Christians could only
be saved by faith.
•
Rather than recant, Luther
rejected the authority of
Rome.
The Protestant Reformation
Section
3
Overnight, copies of Luther’s 95 Theses spread
and sparked debate across Europe.
In 1521 Pope Leo X
excommunicated Luther.
The Holy Roman emperor,
Charles V, declared
Luther an outlaw and
ordered his books to be
burned.
The Protestant Reformation
But many
agreed with
Luther and
became his
followers.
Section
3
Luther’s teachings differed from the Roman
Catholic Church
•
He believed that all Christians had equal access
to God, and did not need a priest to intervene.
•
He wanted ordinary people to study the Bible.
•
He banned the granting of indulgences, prayers
to saints, pilgrimages, and confession.
The Protestant Reformation
Section
3
The printing press quickly spread Luther’s
writings throughout Germany and Scandinavia.
•
His followers took on the name “Protestants”
because they were in protest against papal
authority.
•
Luther simplified the mass, but emphasized the
sermon. Ministers used their sermons to attack
corruption in the Roman Catholic Church.
The Protestant Reformation
Section
3
Some German princes saw Lutheranism as a
chance to throw off the rule of both the Church
and the Holy Roman emperor.
Some saw an
opportunity to
seize Church
property in their
territories.
Others embraced
the new church
out of nationalistic
loyalty.
The Protestant Reformation
Many were
tired of paying
to support
clergy in Italy.
Section
3
In 1524 a peasants’ revolt erupted across Germany.
The people
demanded
an end to
serfdom.
Luther
denounced
the violence,
favoring
respect for
political
authority.
The Protestant Reformation
With his support,
the nobles
suppressed the
uprising.
Thousands died
as a result.
Section
3
Charles V tried to force the German princes to
return to the Catholic Church.
In 1555, after several brief wars, Charles and the
princes signed the Treaty of Augsburg.
Each prince chose a religion for his realm—
either Catholic or Lutheran.
In the north most chose Lutheranism;
in the south most chose Catholicism.
The Protestant Reformation
Section
3
Reformers in Switzerland also challenged the
authority of the Catholic Church.
•
Ulrich Zwingli, an admirer of Erasmus, also stressed
the importance of the Bible and rejected elaborate
Church rituals.
•
The city council in Zurich adopted his ideas.
John Calvin, a French-born priest and lawyer,
was strongly influenced by these Reformation ideas.
The Protestant Reformation
Section
3
Calvin accepted most Lutheran beliefs but added
his own belief in predestination.
He preached that God
had long ago determined
who was, and was not,
going to gain eternal
salvation.
There were
two kinds
of people,
saints and
sinners.
Only the
saved could
live a truly
Christian life.
Calvinists attempted to live saintly lives to demonstrate
that they were among those God had selected.
The Protestant Reformation
Section
3
The people of Geneva, Switzerland, invited
Calvin to lead their community.
•
He established a theocracy. Religious leaders felt
entrusted by God to build a Christian society based
on hard work, discipline, thrift, and honesty.
•
Offenses such as swearing, laughing in church,
or fighting resulted in fines or worse. Many
Protestants saw Geneva as a perfect Christian
community.
The Protestant Reformation
Section
3
By the late 1500s, Calvinism had spread
throughout northern Europe.
Challenges to
the Catholic
Church set off
a series of
religious wars.
•
In Germany, Lutherans and
Catholics fought Calvinists.
•
In France, Calvinists battled
Catholics.
•
In Scotland, John Knox, a
Calvinist preacher, helped
overthrow a Catholic queen.
To escape persecution in England, groups of Calvinists
sailed for America in the early 1600s.
The Protestant Reformation